Advertising: Coke Updates A . . . Classic

Coke Updates A . . . Classic

Ah, those were the days, nearly 20 years ago, when Coca-Cola gathered a group of young students and models on a hilltop near Rome to sing what would become the most memorable U.S. ad ditty of the era: "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony/ I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company." The choristers got a flat $50 fee, while the commercial earned Coca-Cola thousands of approval letters and the effervescence of a song that sold more than 1 million copies.